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Delta responds to accusation of censoring in-flight film’s ‘homosexual content’

November 2, 2019 | | Print Article

Delta Air Lines responded to backlash over in-flight films after it was accused of removing and editing sexual scenes.

The airline company asserted that it had not requested that any “homosexual content” to be removed from films it offered passengers after critics complained that sexuality, including same-sex love, was edited from the movies  “Booksmart” and “Rocketman.”

(Image: Wikimedia)

“We value our in-flight entertainment options as a means to reflect the diversity of the world,” the company said, according to Deadline. “We are reviewing the processes of our third-party editing vendors to ensure that they are aligned with our values of diversity and inclusion.”

Olivia Wilde, who directed “Booksmart,” called out the censorship after noting an edited version of the film was being shown on a flight. She also noticed other scenes were cut.

According to Deadline:

Wilde also noted the edits included the words “vagina” and “genitals,” a female masturbation scene, an animated sequence where the main characters turned into naked dolls, and a scene where the two teenage girls watched porn.

In Rocketman, it was reported that a love scene between stars Taron Egerton and Richard Madden was edited out.

 

“What message is this sending to viewers and especially to women? That their bodies are obscene? That their sexuality is shameful?” Wilde asked in a series of tweets.

The actress and director had been alerted to the censorship by a fan who tweeted that an entire scene was cut out.

Wilde recounted how she had then seen the edited version of her film for herself and claimed that some airlines – though she did not mention Delta – work with a third-party company that does the editing “based on what they deem inappropriate.”

Entertainment Weekly’s digital director Shana Krochmal had also recently tweeted that the Elton John biopic was “stripped of almost every gay reference or scene.”

Wilde detailed the offenses in her tweetstorm, including her criticism that “they didn’t cut ANY cursing” out of the film.

“I urge every airline, especially those who pride themselves on inclusivity, to stop working with this third party company, and trust the parental advisory warning to allow viewers to opt out if they choose,” she concluded.

A spokesman for Delta said in a statement to Fox News that the company is “immediately putting a new process in place for managing content available through Delta’s entertainment.”

“Studios often provide videos in two forms: a theatrical, original version and an edited version. We selected the edited version and now realize content well within our guidelines was unnecessarily excluded from both films. We are working to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” the spokesman added. “The studio has agreed to provide a special Delta edit that retains the LGBTQ+ love scenes in both ‘Booksmart’ and ‘Rocketman’ that will be on our flights as soon as possible.”

Though many joined the backlash at Delta over the editing and censorship, many Twitter users gave a different perspective.

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Frieda Powers
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